Quick Links

Trending

Study Abroad Blogs and Photos: Part 2

More than 60 Hiram College students are spending their 3-Week overseas: in Bhutan, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Since we last updated you, students visiting the United Kingdom have experienced the thrills of city life in London and the highlands of Scotland. Students in Australia have dove into the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns and visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.

(The Bhutan trip is a pilgrimage, and the students and professors have little Internet access to connect with us. We will share photos from their trip upon their return.)

Here are some more updates from our students and professors, as they enjoy the last part of their study abroad trips:

From the United Kingdom:

Blog by student Jessica Baker

Photos by students Kaylyn Gamertsfelder Bass and Kayla Reardon

5/5/14:

Shakespeare said it best when he wrote, “All travelers must be content” in his comedy “As You Like it.” And content I am. Now that we are halfway through our trip, I’m realizing just how short three weeks really is, but how great an impact it can have.

We’ve been pretty lucky with warm weather and occasional light showers. The countryside treated us especially well with fields of beautiful flowers, incredible mountain views, and hundreds of sheep and lambs to watch. In the countryside, we talked a lot about the green world and its impact on the characters in Shakespeare’s play and its even greater impact on ourselves.

Continuing our journey, we visited Shakespeare’s birthplace and home: Stratford. There, we spent almost every evening at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) theaters enjoying both Henry IV plays and other unique shows. We spent time in Shakespeare’s home where some of the students performed Shakespearean monologues. We also visited Mary Arden’s farm where we enjoyed a falconry show. At one point, a giant owl nearly landed on my head.

Despite all the great things to do in Stratford, it was time to go to London. The mad shuffle through the tube and the crowded sidewalks took a while to win me over, but now I can’t wait to go back for the last leg of our trip. I can finally say that I’ve seen a show at the Globe Theater: the same theater that employed Shakespeare.

The easiest way to get to Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben is the tube. It’s the lifeline of the city, carrying thousands of people daily to work, home or the various shopping areas and pubs around the city. Public transportation is one of my favorite parts of the city.

Since arriving here only three days ago, I’ve climbed 528 steps (eighty-five meters) to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral to see all of London, witnessed the changing of the guard and sat in Trafalgar Square. I’ve gotten lost in one of the largest department stores I have ever seen, stood close enough to touch the Rosetta stone, and I’ve wandered the city with some of the greatest people Hiram has helped shape. This journey has been one of a kind for us, and Scotland promises even more adventure.

Cheers from Europe.

Kaylyn: Edinburgh Castle: the same castle JK Rowling could see while she was writing the first Harry Potter book.

Kayla: At the top of Dunsinane Hill in Scotland. Breathtaking.

From Australia:

Photos by Assistant Professor of Psychology Amber Chenoweth:

“The Twelve Apostles,” a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.